Archives for February 2015

I don’t care about what we should do, I care about what we will do.

This started with a news article, a Facebook Post (photo right), and a text message conversation with an old friend, Michael Yoder. The news article discussed what ISIS has been doing to children: selling them into slavery, beheading them, and burying them alive. The background on the Facebook post is that the person who posted the ISIS “solution” is a pastor, so I thought my questions would develop into a healthy discussion. It shocked me when not one person responded. Nobody.

When I got zero response, it made me think, why? I come from the religious midwest, and would consider myself a Christian. I have seen quite a few comments from Christians saying that love, justice, and prayer can fix the ISIS problem and that violence is not the answer. As a United States Marine Combat Veteran, I would agree, violence begets more violence. You could argue that my past military experiences, and the direction our country has taken actually led to the ISIS problem. You would probably be right, although atrocities in that part of the world have gone on for thousands of years, but a decade of war and unsettling the balance of power certainly hasn’t helped. However, if violence isn’t the answer, then what is? I think we would all agree that social media posts aren’t solutions either. As Mr. Michael Yoder said,

If Christians believe love can conquer all, then why aren’t we taking action in some way?